My reborn husband and son are thinking about how to kill me every day.

The person who sent the matchmaker to the Lu family to propose marriage was none other than the second wife of the Chu family.

Although no one from the Chu family held official positions in the imperial court, the family's influence was considerable.

Besides owning a large number of shops and land in Hongdu, the Chu family also has many businesses in other places.

Normally, Madam Chu would never have taken a liking to Lu Xumu.

Although Lu Xumu seems outstanding and is currently enjoying unparalleled prominence in Hongdu, he ultimately lacks a solid foundation and is far inferior to established aristocratic families.

However, the Chu family is now facing difficulties.

Because of the war, many of the Chu family's businesses abroad suffered losses.

Furthermore, it was unexpected that Prince Rui's troops were able to defend Jiangzhou, while it seemed that Prince Xuan's side could not hold it.

Previously, the Chu family had secretly sold many of their properties in Jiangzhou and sent people to Jingzhou to acquire properties, intending to move the entire family to Jingzhou.

However, before they could even move to Jingzhou, they received news that the Qi army was attacking Jingzhou.

The vast amount of treasure they had previously sent out has also disappeared without a trace.

Two consecutive misjudgments suddenly made the Chu family's situation difficult.

Who would have thought that a prestigious family like the Chu family would also experience food shortages?

The reason why Madam Chu took a liking to Lu Xumu was largely because he owned several restaurants in Hongdu.

The restaurants are thriving and seem to have no shortage of food.

Although Madam Chu sent a matchmaker to the Lu family to arrange a marriage, she still looked down on Lu Xumu.

But upon hearing the matchmaker's words, she was stunned and momentarily lost control of her expression. "What did you say? His sister-in-law holds an official position in the army?"

The matchmaker laughed and said, "Surprised? I was even more surprised than you when I first heard about it!"

However, I don't think Mrs. Lu is showing off; she's just being honest. She's worried that other girls might not know about her family's situation and cause trouble after marrying into it, so she's giving them a heads-up beforehand. She probably isn't lying.

Madam Chu did not doubt that Gu Chunzhi was lying, but rather she recalled what she had overheard her husband saying to someone a few days ago.

I heard that a female officer suddenly appeared in the army. It seems that she was favored by the crown prince and was promoted several ranks in the army.

Could they be the same person?

If it really is the same person, why would her daughter need to fight for that little bit of control of the family?

Such a formidable sister-in-law, if you try to please her, you'll reap many benefits in the future.

Madam Chu hurriedly inquired about the Lu family's situation from the matchmaker, and the more she listened, the more she felt that it was the same as what she had heard before.

After seeing the matchmaker off, she hurried to find Master Chu and told him about the Lu family.

When Master Chu heard that she had secretly hired a matchmaker to find a husband for her daughter in the countryside, he was initially displeased. However, after hearing that the sister-in-law of the braised food shop owner was actually the only female official in the rumors, he frowned and asked, "Are you sure you're not mistaken?"

Madam Chu said, "It must be right. In this world, how many women can hold official positions?"

Master Chu scolded, "You handled this matter poorly. Our Jiaojiao is a girl. How can she take the initiative to ask someone to arrange a marriage for her? If she is rejected, where will our Jiaojiao put her face?"

Madam Chu the Second didn't seem to care. "What kind of family are we? How could he look down on us? And my Jiaojiao, if it weren't for the current situation... would she have chosen him? This is a windfall from heaven, why would he refuse it instead of taking it?"

Master Chu sighed and said, "If his sister-in-law is indeed a female official who is highly regarded by the young master, then his family background is not bad."

If it were the Chu family of the past, he was confident that the Lu family would not have refused their marriage proposal.

But things are different now.

The Lu family is on the rise, but the Chu family is on the decline. Whether this marriage will go through is really hard to say.

Moreover, their motives weren't pure...

Master Chu was not optimistic, but Madam Chu felt that no matter how capable the Lu family's daughter-in-law was, she was still from a farming family.

As long as her daughter agrees, the Lu family will immediately agree to the marriage. The next day, they sent a matchmaker to the Lu family to convey that the Chu family does not care about the power to manage the household.

Gu Chunzhi truly hadn't expected that the Chu family would still accept the marriage after she had said those things.

She didn't understand Master Chu and couldn't make the decision herself, so she could only talk to her son about it.

At this moment, Lu Xumu was in the braised food shop, listening to the servants report on the Wang family's situation.

“Boss, now everyone knows that it was the Wang family who sent their daughter to stop you, trying to find out where our grain comes from. Everyone says the Wang family is shameless. They want to steal our business and even came to ask where we buy our grain.”

After Tugen finished speaking, he paused and then said, "No one is spreading rumors about you, but the Wang family's reputation is ruined. As for that girl from the Wang family... I'm afraid it will be difficult to talk about her in the future."

Lu Xumu showed no sympathy upon hearing this, saying, "They only have themselves to blame. Who told them to have impure intentions?"

"Yes, yes, yes, it's all because they had ulterior motives, they deserve it!" Tugen flattered, "Luckily, the boss is shrewd, otherwise we would have fallen for their tricks."

Lu Xumu said, "Be careful these next few days, watch out for them coming to cause trouble."

Meanwhile, the Wang family soon discovered that their reputation had been ruined throughout the entire street.

At that time, Wang Xuemei returned home dejectedly, saying that Lu Xumu had his servants pull her away and drove off without caring whether she cried or not.

Upon hearing this, Old Lady Wang gave Wang Xuemei a severe scolding, saying that she was incompetent and couldn't even bewitch a man.

"What should we do next?" Wang Dazhi felt completely overwhelmed. He rented a shop next to the braised food store so that his daughter could have an advantage in marrying into the Lu family.

But judging from his current appearance, Lu Xumu didn't even glance at his daughter.

The shop has already been rented, and so much money has been spent, but we still haven't decided what kind of business to run in it...

Old Mrs. Wang was also anxious and angry. She threw things around and said, "I told you not to be greedy, but you wouldn't listen. You insisted on opening a shop in the city. Now look what happened! You've ruined our whole family."

Wang Dazhi opened his mouth, wanting to say that you clearly agreed with the idea back then, but now you're blaming us.

But seeing his mother's furious face, he didn't dare to speak.

Although he was forty years old, he still dared not disobey his mother.

After scolding her two sons, Old Lady Wang pointed at Da He and yelled, "What kind of worthless thing have you raised? All these years, they've eaten so much rice and grain from the house, and they're completely useless!"

……

After scolding her family, she sat down in a chair with a gloomy face and said, "Since he won't listen to reason, let's give him a hard one! Eldest daughter-in-law, spread the word that Lu Sanlang was alone with Xuemei today."

"Mother, isn't this a bad idea?" Wang Dazhi said, "By spreading rumors like this, we'll offend the Lu family."

"What's there to be afraid of? The Lu family will have to marry Xue Mei into the family for the sake of their reputation. Once Xue Mei is in the Lu family, we'll be in-laws."

Old Mrs. Wang said matter-of-factly, "Once we become in-laws, will he hold a grudge for the rest of his life?"

Wang Dazhi and the others all felt that what she said made sense.

In addition, they couldn't think of any other good solutions.

But to their surprise, before they could even spread the word about Lu Xumu and Wang Xuemei, rumors about their Wang family began to circulate outside.